Hizbollah hits advancing Israeli tanks in Lebanon

MARJAYOUN, Lebanon, Aug 10 (Reuters) Hizbollah guerrillas, firing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, hit two Israeli tanks near the town of Marjayoun during fierce fighting in the area tosday, a resident said.

''I can see two tanks burning some 500 metres from Marjayoun,'' the resident told Reuters by telephone. He said later that a third tank approached the scene and took away several casualties.

''For the past 10 minutes, Hizbollah has been raining rockets and mortars on the Israeli force between Marjayoun and Khiam,'' he said.

Hizbollah said in a statement it has destroyed 11 Israeli tanks, killing or wounding their crews, in fighting in the area.

Israeli infantry has advanced from the border to the Christian towns of Marjayoun and Qlaiah and the village of Burj al-Molouk overnight, virtually unopposed.

They passed through the towns and appeared not to take positions inside them, witnesses said. They were followed by tanks that deployed in roads in the area, drawing intense Hizbollah fire.

''On the main road, we do not see anything but can hear a lot. We cannot see any tanks or soldiers on the main road, but the sounds we hear are very disturbing,'' Marjayoun mayor Fouad al-Hamra told Al Arabiya television by phone.

''They (soldiers) passed through the town but it is over now.

We don't know if they will return to the town, these are military matters.'' Hizbollah said it also destroyed two tanks near the village of Ainata to the west.

The Israeli army said 15 of its soldiers and 40 Hizbollah guerrillas were killed yesterday, one of the bloodiest days of fighting in the conflict that began after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Marjayoun, a town of 3,000, served as the headquarters of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army militia during Israel's 22-year occupation of the region that ended in 2000. Qlaiah has a population of about 7,000, according to UN figures.

The figures released this week show 2,000 people remained in Marjayoun and 3,000 in Qlaiah.

REUTERS MS RK1250